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Post by snowman on Sept 9, 2014 9:54:16 GMT
Kingston Council are about to debate (on 11th) the Christmas Park and ride and have a recommendation to discontinue the K50 as usage has been falling and it requires a big subsidy. There are a number of other reasons and considerations on attached Council documentusage figures and costsIf agreed later this week, looks like London United wont need to keep a seasonal fleet of about 10 aging Dart Pointers |
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Post by snoggle on Sept 9, 2014 10:39:41 GMT
Kingston Council are about to debate (on 11th) the Christmas Park and ride and have a recommendation to discontinue the K50 as usage has been falling and it requires a big subsidy. There are a number of other reasons and considerations on attached Council documentusage figures and costsIf agreed later this week, looks like London United wont need to keep a seasonal fleet of about 10 aging Dart Pointers Interesting to see the extent to which patronage and revenue has fallen and how something as simple as not branding the buses and moving the car park at WOA has damaged the service. It's clearly going to be scrapped because there is no enthusiasm from anyone (TfL, the Council or retailers in Kingston) to support it. It's also something of an indictment about the efficacy or otherwise of dedicated park and ride schemes in Greater London. Other places like York manage to make P&R work but it seems to need a lot of effort and sustained investment in new vehicles. |
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Post by LX09FBJ on Sept 9, 2014 16:40:32 GMT
Isn't it possible to have a special 71/465 'park and ride' where you park for £2.80 and you get a return bus ticket to and from WOA?
As the report says, most people would rather drive directly into Kingston and have the flexibility of being able to put shopping into their boot and continue shopping, even if it does mean more traffic, plus waiting in the cold and rain/sleet/snow is off-putting, even if the bus runs every 10 minutes and is non-stop. That said, making just small improvements to parking arrangements and adding branding could potentially save the service, but this costs money which TfL are reluctant to spend (and would rather spend on some al-gondola).
Should the service continue next year, then a solution to the fleet problem could be to run the service with ex. School buses during the holidays so there is no need to keep 10-12 year old DPSs for eleven months of the year.
An idea I have is to have a sort of 'wating room' at WOA and Kingston (could use old Modelzone shop for this), and then you have a 'locker' to put shopping/things and then you can get refreshments/entertainment. Then run the service privately and you charge £3-3.50 for a return ticket plus parking. In terms of rolling stock, you could either use buses or coaches, depending on availability, sub-contracted to a variety of operators, thus reducing the need to keep a fleet of white elephant vehicles for eleven months.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2014 19:44:04 GMT
I have noted the decline in this service over the last contract. I feel the distance is an issue. Change it to Apps Court Farm perhaps ?
The problem is that Kingston does not have an established system as the likes of Maidstone , Canterbury and Cambridge. These run all year round.
Having a service like this that runs for a couple of months in horrible weather when people would rather be in the warmth of their own car seems pretty pointless now.
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